Recensioni / Reviews

Abstract

In one of the essays contained in the collection edited by Sara Brady and Fintan Walsh, Crossroads: Performance Studies and Irish Culture (2009), J’aime Morrison writes that “[b]ecause of their double focus, crossroads are important spaces for reconsidering Irish identity” (82). This is a more than fitting description of the main objective of this volume, which, in its entirety, represents an attempt to rethink Irish culture and to chart the several ramifications of twenty-first century Irish identity. Crossroads is divided into five parts: I. “Tradition, Ritual, and Play”; II. “Place, Landscape, and Commemoration”; III. “Political Performances”; IV. “Gender, Feminism, and Queer Performance”; V. “Diaspora, Migration, and Globalization”. Clearly these sections are meant to encompass the main cultural (and political) hot spots that, at least in the eye of the foreigner, usually define and permeate Irish identity – i.e. traditional cultural expressions such as mumming, folk music and storytelling, lush green landscapes, en masse emigration, and religious and territorial issues. Throughout the collection, these components of Irish culture are (re)considered using the broad-spectrum lens of performance studies. The editors claim that they wish to “[...] impress the need for performance as a paradigm and as an object of study to be considered in greater depth in the context of Irish culture” (8). Partly this is because at the time of publication Brady and Walsh were both affiliated with a drama department in Ireland, but more significantly, they feel that performance studies have the potential to develop new critical perspectives in fields that are not typically associated with performative arts. Not exactly surprising is the fact that famous political speeches and acts – as in Anne Pulju’s essay on De Valera’s political oath – or sports events are considered to be pieces of performance, while it comes more as a surprise to see religious pilgrimages, and even roads taken into consideration. Crossroads can be read as an all-embracing survey on the concept of performance as a viable interpretative tool for all things Irish. The result is undoubtedly refreshing and thought provoking. The first part of the book is the longest, with five essays on traditional subjects. It starts with the contribution of Jack Santino, “Performing Ireland: A Performative Approach to the Study of Irish Culture”, which delves into the performative qualities of what he calls “ritualesque”. In his analysis of public events, such as the Bloody Sunday commemorations or the Gay Pride Day Studi irlandesi. A Journal of Irish Studies, n. 3 (2013), pp. 379-391 http://www.fupress.com/bsfm-sijis